Davao del Norte’s city joins billionaires’ club

DAVAO CITY—Another emerging city in the
region, Panabo City, joined the elite circle of emerging billionaire cities in
the country, thanks largely to its sprawling banana plantations cultivated for
export and its bustling port for shipping them.

Panabo City, 32 kilometers northeast of here,
broke through the P1-billion mark in earnings last year, according to Mayor
James G. Gamao in his recent state of the city address, citing 2018 figures.

Michael Angelo Resueno, Panabo City
information officer, said the mayor disclosed the amount at P1.05 billion. The
figure is the first billion the city earned. In 2017 the figure grazed the
billion mark when the city earned nearly P900 million.

Resueno said the bulk of the earnings came
from the sprawling banana plantations, including the country’s largest, the
Floirendo-owned Tagum Development Co. City Tourism Officer Cher
Magallon-Bastida said almost half of the city’s entire area of 27,200 hectares
is planted with the Cavendish banana. The city has about 10,000 hectares of
banana farms and plantations.

Panabo City’s achievement would be a welcome
inspiration to its 18th “Araw ng Panabo” commemoration later this month,
despite being rated a third-class municipality.

Business attraction

THE attractiveness of the city may have also
started to pull important investment strings, especially from mainland China.

A recent delegation of Chinese businessmen
told city officials that they were keen on expanding supply contracting
ventures with shopping malls and other retail stores in the Davao region.

The businessmen told city government officials
operating in Panabo City that would cut the cost of purchasing supplies on the
part of client stores by eliminating the list of middlemen.

Officials said the delegates would also seek
supply contracts with the other malls in Tagum City, as well as in Davao del
Norte and Davao City.

Resueno said the businessmen were interested
to locate inside the city’s export procession zone in Barangay San Pedro,
adjacent to the industrial park being developed by the Anflocor Group in
Barangay San Vicente. The business proposal was among the recent big-ticket
investments planned in the city.

Bastida said these investments include the
University of the Philippines graduate school for agriculture and environment,
the private-public partnership project for a new public market, and the park
development of the national government with Panabo City as the recipient.

A separate group of Chinese businessmen
accompanied by the Chinese consulate general has also offered the Panabo City
team a visit to China in time for a trade exposition.

Tourism sites

Bastida said the city has allotted funds to
improve its tourism sites and contribute to maintaining or further increasing
its P1-billion revenue record on the second year.

She added the city plans to showcase its
success in mangrove replanting in coastal areas up to the next town of Carmen,
also in Davao del Norte. There is also an 80-hectare marine-culture park.

Bastida said there would be a boardwalk around
the mangrove forest and the marine culture park and extending further to allow
visitors a view of the Panabo port and the export-processing zone.

From the mangrove forest with a view deck, a
kayaking sports activity would be develop.

Upland in Barangay Mabunaw, the city has begun
to develop an ecological park, carving out 72 ladder steps with pine trees
alongside the trail.

Panabo City has been receiving 3,000 to 5,000
visitors daily. Bastida said the city would hope to gather as many as 10,000
visitors during the Araw ng Panabo celebration on March 22 to 31.

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